Snail question

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by Brittle84

We plan on adding only a few snails. We thought if we had a lot it would look bad. Just enough to get algae off the rocks. We don't have algae on the glass yet, but I believe they have plenty of algae for right now. How fast do they clean up the algae, lets say if I only add 3-5 snails? Because if they eat the algae pretty fast, I'll just get 1 or 2 snails. I know this seems like a trivial issue, but my husband is adamant about not getting snails for at least another month or so, even though he got 2 clownfish pretty fast.

Like I mentioned before, I don't think now is the time to add snails because your nitrates are a bit too high to support sensitive inverts. Fish are a bit tougher so they can tolerate the high nitrates, unlike the snails.

[suckafishtankcleaning]

Originally Posted by amcarrig

Like I mentioned before, I don't think now is the time to add snails because your nitrates are a bit too high to support sensitive inverts. .

but how sensitive are those snails, because my understanding was that they were relativly hardy. not to metions the nitrates arent that high....my snail lasted during a hugh nitrate before.


brittle84 if i was you i would add atleast another 10-20 lbs of live rock. that will help with your nitrates

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by suckafishtankcleaning

but how sensitive are those snails, because my understanding was that they were relativly hardy. not to metions the nitrates arent that high....my snail lasted during a hugh nitrate before.


brittle84 if i was you i would add atleast another 10-20 lbs of live rock. that will help with your nitrates

Snails can be relatively hardy but with nitrates in the 30s, I wouldn't take any chances until that number drops. I'm not saying that you can't add snails but you risk losing some if not all of them.

Adding more rock is an option but keep in mind that it will most likely cause a little spike and another mini cycle if you add live rock. I would add dead base rock if you must have more rock. It's cheaper and you don't have to worry about any die off.

[suckafishtankcleaning]

the dead rock would in time help the nitrate problem, when it "cures" that is. but new live would spike all the levels?? i was under the impression that you can add "cured" live rock at any point and not have a problem. why would it cause a spike in levels? is it just all the stow aways that come with the rock??

[amcarrig]

Even well cured live rock will have some bacterial die off just from being exposed to the air from the lfs tank to your tank. It won't be much but it may still cause a mini cycle.

[gianni]

Originally Posted by Brittle84

We plan on adding only a few snails. We thought if we had a lot it would look bad. Just enough to get algae off the rocks. We don't have algae on the glass yet, but I believe they have plenty of algae for right now. How fast do they clean up the algae, lets say if I only add 3-5 snails? Because if they eat the algae pretty fast, I'll just get 1 or 2 snails. I know this seems like a trivial issue, but my husband is adamant about not getting snails for at least another month or so, even though he got 2 clownfish pretty fast.

if you look at this web site marine-life.it
there is a kit of detrivori that include shell, star,urchins,hermit crab .
i have bought and in a week they eated all algas-
the astreas snails are perfect for this job
put before any other fish and when algas appear

[LiVEWiRE]

Yea you got the Clowns way to fast. I few snails will not hurt the tank and you wont hurt them most likely. Keep up with your water changes until your nitrate gets lower. Also what type of filtration are you using? Also the snails are not going to eat all of the Algae in your system. they are not an algae fix they just help out. You are still going to have to do maintenance and remove some yourself. Mostly on the glass.

[amcarrig]

I wouldn't recommend water changes at this point as the tank is only a month old and is obviously still cycling. Wait until the nitrates drop before doing a water change.

[suckafishtankcleaning]

i thought that you need to do a small water change to throw that knockout punch to the nitrates. thats only in established uhh??

[Brittle84]

Well, at first all we had in the tank was some fake decorations and a 2" sandbed. Then after about 3 weeks we decided to buy 2 clownfish to get the cycle started, since we were told that clowns are hardy fish to do that. Then we went to a really good lfs and they explained to us that we really need live rock in our tank, and since we already had 2 clowns that they might die, unless they are really hardy. We added the LR and the fish went downhill fast. Then a couple of days later they were back to normal. They have been good from then on. The ammonia has been really low when we have been testing the levels every other day. The only thing I'm worried about are the nitrates, and the nitrites read 0 this morning. Nitrates are still 30. I guess I should let the tank read at the low levels for a couple of more weeks, til the nitrates go down. We did a 3 1/2 gallon water change this afternoon (in a 30 gal). THe fish seem to be fine. The type of filtration we are using is an Aqua Clear filter for up to 50 gallons. We also have a protein skimmer for up to 100 gallon tank. Also, the people at the lfs said that the LR also acts as a natural filter?? So at this point we are going to wait a few more weeks to get any additional animals. The next thing we are going to get is a banded coral shrimp and maybe a couple of snails. So should I do frequent water changes to lower the nitrates?